Saturday 5h February 2005
St Ives vs. Hitchin 2nd XV
With no league fixtures this weekend, St Ives put together a mix of their 1st and 2nd XV to face the visiting side, Hitchin 2nd XV.
The game started and saw Hitchin come out all guns firing. A couple of quick runs and tactical kicks resulted in St Ives having to defend a line out on their 5 metre line. The defence looked to hold firm and all Hitchin could do was crab across the field, desperately looking for a gap in the St Ives line. The pressure paid off and Hitchin managed to score off the back of a scrum, luckily the conversion was not good and St Ives found themselves 5-0 down after only 5 minutes.
This woke the pack up a bit and St Ives began to play their forward game that has proved effective in the past few weeks. Some good rucking and quick phase play built a good platform for the backs to start attacking the Hitchin back line. Matt Ball was a very welcome face back in the line out and St Ives managed to win the majority of their own ball, coupling this with superiority in the scrums (thanks to the solid front row of Parkes, Gilbert and Blanchard), it was only going to be a matter of time before the hard work translated into points.
A clean catch by Matt Ball set up the drive for the forwards. Some quick hands and good offloading saw Mike Sykes cross the line to level the score 5-5 (Adam Clark missed the conversion).
The first half was relatively calm after this, save for Dave Sykes enjoying 10 minutes in the bin for retaliation.
The second half was all St Ives, once again good play by the forwards provided clean ball for the backs. The pressure eventually paid off and John ‘Grease me up’ Paxton playing at scrum half, a constant pain with his sniping runs broke clear of the line. He was eventually caught 10 yards from the line, but a good support run from Nick Crane saw the skipper receive the pop pass and cross under the posts, Adam Clark converted.
St Ives only other score of the day came from Chris Morten. A wonderful chip kick by Man of the Match Adam Clark was collected by Chris who spun and crossed the line to score his first try of the season.
Hitchin managed to answer back with a consolation try in injury time, but it was all too late by then. A promising win for St Ives who look forward to a pool game this coming weekend followed by Bugbrooke on the 19th.
Final Score: St Ives 17 – Hitchin 10